Our borg Best of 2019 list continues today with the Best in Comics. If you missed them, check out our review of the Best Movies of 2019 here, the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2019 here, and the Best in Television 2019 here.
We reviewed comics from every major publisher this year, and were pleasantly surprised with all the new characters and content available. You’ll find both some new creators on the list this year and some fan favorites who keep making better comic books each new year.
Here are the best comic books for 2019:
Best Limited Comic Series (tie) – Sara by Garth Ennis and Steve Epting (TKO Studios) and Goodnight Paradise by Joshua Dysart and Alberto Ponticelli (TKO Studios). The new publisher TKO Studios began with a bang with these two incredible stories. Sara is what every fan of war comics hopes for, and Goodnight Paradise brings the realities of life in the 21st century to the comics page in a story that will stay with readers a long time.
Best Ongoing Comic Book Series – Ghost Tree by Bobby Curnow and Simon Gane (IDW Publishing). Haunting, mythic, and sweeping, this story of a man reflecting on his past and coming to terms with the present combines with Asian legend tropes to form an emotional and curiously funny tale. Sure to leave readers begging for more.
Best Sci-Fi Comic Series, Best Comic Book Writing – Ascender by writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dustin Nguyen (Image Comics). Lemire owned this category with two fabulous science fiction tales, both with strong female lead characters. Runner-up: Sentient by Jeff Lemire and Gabriel Walta (TKO Studios).
Best Comic Reprint/Anthology – Max Allan Collins, Ms. Tree: One Mean Mother (Titan Comics/Hard Case Crime). Master of prose Collins combines great stories for this volume and a character up there with Miss Fury in defining noir cool.
Best Crossover/Mash-up Comic Book, Best Interior Artist – Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Crisis in a Half Shell by writer James Tynion IV and artist Freddie Williams II (DC Comics/IDW Publishing). A great idea executed wonderfully, combining two key franchises in a way fanboys and fangirls will keep coming back for. Williams once again shows why his eye-popping Batman and TMNT layouts are the best for both properties you’ll find in any series today.
Best Comic Book Single Issue, Best New Characters – Radically Rearranged Ronin Ragdolls, No. 1 (Kevin Eastman Studios). A single issue that is screaming to be its own series with a quick but thoroughly crafted world and more unlikely superb superheroes. Honorable mention: The Green Lantern, No. 6 (DC Comics), Star Wars, No. 108 (Marvel Comics).
Best Comic Book Cover Artist – Stan Sakai, TMNT/Usagi Yojimbo, Usagi Yojimbo, and Radically Ronin, Star Wars Adventures. Sakai’s unique style over several covers this year should earn him every industry accolade for his imagination and artistry.
Best Comic Book Cover – War of the Realms No. 1 Frank Cho variant (Marvel Comics). Perennial favorite cover artist Frank Cho created the best of this year’s variants for the new Marvel event–a cliffhanger moment making the reader quickly turn the page to learn how the superheroines will make it out of this mess. Runner-up: Fantastic Four: Grand Design Ed Piskor variant Frank Miller homage (Marvel Comics).
Best Comic Book Video Game Tie-in – Obey Me, by Mario Mentasti and Ben Herrera (Dynamite). Great characters and mythology combined to form a standalone series that could easily continue separately from the game.
Best Comic Book Event, Best Comic Book Homage Covers – Detective Comics #1000, various covers (DC Comics). Even more so than past and other 2019 benchmark events, the #1000 issue really brought the best out of every artist that participated.
Best Comic Book Retro Fix – Marvel Comics Star Wars, No. 108 – A big surprise for anyone who read the original Star Wars comics was this continued issue that came out of nowhere. It also showed that these stories were loved by fans because they were so well written, and there is a huge market for the Expanded Universe aka Legends stories today. Jaxxon and Valance need to make an appearance in The Mandalorian next.
Best Online Comics – Aztec Empire by Paul Guinan, David Hahn, and Anita Bennett (Big Red Hair). Probably one of the best uses of comics in a web format so far, the great storytelling and vivid, quality artwork was a welcome treat–and history lesson–for comic readers and history fans.
Come back tomorrow as we run down the Best Books for 2019, and end the year Tuesday with several new members added to the borg Hall of Fame.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg
